inane

¹inane

adjective \i-ˈnān\

inan·erinan·est

Definition of INANE

1

: empty, insubstantial

2

: lacking significance, meaning, or point : silly <inane comments>

— inane·ly adverb

— inane·ness \-ˈnān-nəs\ noun

Examples of INANE

1. I quickly tired of their inane comments.
2. The film's plot is inane and full of clichés.
3. All around us swirls the battering of gargantuan films, Styrofoam epics with megatons of special effects, gleefully inane adolescent films, horror films that really are horrible. —Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic, 15 Mar. 2004
4. The surfeit of home runs is a sop to all the Philistines who require inane diversions like programmed races between electronic dots on the scoreboard to make it through a two-hit shutout. —Nicholas Dawidoff, New York Times Magazine, 4 Apr. 1999
5. Though feminist leaders are mostly aligned with those sentiments, they can't separate their quest for economic equity from the inane political correctness of their extremist sisters. —Mary Matalin, Newsweek, 25 Oct. 1993

Origin of INANE

Latin inanis

First Known Use: 1662

Related to INANE

Synonyms

empty, meaningless, pointless, senseless

Antonyms

meaningful, significant

Related Words

frivolous, inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, little, minor, negligible, slight, trifling, trivial, unimportant; absurd, asinine, balmy, brainless, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dotty, empty-headed, fatuous, foolish, half-witted, harebrained, insane, jerky, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, mad, mindless, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, silly, simpleminded, stupid, tomfool, unintelligent, unwise, wacky (also whacky), weak-minded, witless, zany; irrational, unreasonable; aimless, haphazard, purposeless

Near Antonyms

eloquent, expressive, pregnant, revealing, suggestive, telling; logical, rational, reasonable, valid; consequential, eventful, important, key, major, momentous, substantial, weighty

See Synonym Discussion at insipid

²inane

noun \i-ˈnān\

Definition of INANE

: void or empty space <a voyage into the limitless inane — V. G. Childe>

Examples of INANE

1. And thus likewise we sometimes speak of place, distance, or bulk in the great inane beyond the confines of the world. —John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1689

Origin of INANE

(see ¹inane)

First Known Use: 1677